Dearest Friends,
Darkness
This is a dark place and we are having enormous difficulty as we go to the schools. Cusco is old ground for the enemy. It is the birthplace of the Inca culture, a people who worshipped idols and sacrificed human beings. Please pray for us as we seek to be light in the dark.
Peru has a big problem with child sexual abuse just like so many places we visit. People are seldom convicted of the crime because there is no forensic science here. Generally, the abuse is from the extended family and friends.
It seems too often that children are the ones who suffer. Please pray for these children. They desperately need to hear Jesus!
Problems
Yesterday was hard and today was even more difficult. The teachers twice today sent us 500 children at a time and then left us. They have not been taught to behave. Their only motivation to stop pushing and shoving is when the teachers hit them. We all saw teachers today and yesterday hitting children with sticks, belts, pretty much whatever they could find. Of course, this does not help. Worse, it is a horrible way for a teacher to behave.
More, I stopped so many children from hitting younger children. One little girl was knocked to the ground and being trampled. No one seemed to care. I pulled her free and later we took a sweet picture of her with Mykayla.
How can I describe to you what it is like to face 500 children who are all shoving and running in your direction? We all keep smiling and try to be kind as we are determined to show them that we are different because of Jesus. Also, we must protect the equipment for the Quechua team.
Today, Katie was trying to give the children a Christian activity book. She was knocked to the ground, cut, and bruised. Through it all, she was more concerned about the children who fell around her than she was for herself. I am so proud of her love for these children even when she was hurt.
We have to form a human wall before, during, and after the show to keep from being overrun. Still, everyone on the team agrees on one truth. They love Peru!
For your part, we have a specific request. The bad behavior of the children always escalates as I am about to explain to them how to become a Christian and pray with them. Please help us! Please pray against this problem. Most of the children we are with are from broken homes, very poor, and hopeless. Their eyes beg us to help them. We need your prayers!
In Jesus, Linda for Sam, Lisa, Hannah, Heather, Mykayla, and Katie